A Courageous Nation

We received this book as a farewell present. It’s a photo journal of Angola during the civil war in 1998, when the civil war ended in 2002 and the days after; by a Brazilian photographer Sergio Guerra. Some photos are very intense, while others are light and hopeful.

Angola, A Courageous Nation. Courageous to live, courageous to die, courageous to restart. Restarting every day, finding forces in their own bodies, not disheartened by the pain of separation: children, husbands, wives, mothers and sisters, separated or missing.
Courageous to reinvent life every day and not be embarrassed by this, but rather to make this as a hope for the future. Understand that pain will bring about happiness.

This is the Rocque Santeiro Market, the largest open air market in Africa, located just north of Luanda. It is roughly the size of 500 soccer fields. It still exists today.

Right Photo: On the truck’s window, there’s the well known AIDS awareness sticker while at the bottom, there’s a board that says “It’s not the war that kills.”

I wish I could post all photos from the book, but I couldn’t. So I’ll just end this with a poem by Jose Eduardo Agualusa

We, Angolans, are always optimistic. The pessimists had all committed suicide.
Pessimism is a luxury reserved for the people who are happy.